Sunday, September 11, 2011

It has been a whilst since my last blog and I have been
patiently waiting for IOS 5 and the new ipods/iphone. I have also
been thinking about getting a Garmin GPS watch and an Apple Time Capsule. I have
always been interested in digital devices rather than having computers. This is
what I believe is part of Apple’s recent success, keeping an OS (IOS) more
streamlined and simple, so that it works like a fast responsive machine that
turns on instantly; rather than sluggish error prone computers, we have all
become used to.

GARMIN WATCH GPS FOR RUNNING

This is a hard decision as Garmin GPS watches are awesome but
quite expensive, depending on the model. I am currently using an ipod touch
when running but this is such a bulky solution. For music I can use my ipod
shuffle when running with a Garmin watch (but I will miss out on the Nike coach
when I reach personal targets!!!!). The other bonus is I can use it whilst
riding as well; unlike the pedometer with the nano.

The questions are, is it worth getting a heart monitor and would
it be better to wait for an ipod nano with this feature with GPS?. Will this
ever happen on a Nano and if so how many years will it take?

APPLE TIME
CAPSULE

The Time Capsule is tempting but I wish i could put my itunes
library on there and play it directly to my ipod. That way I don’t have to have
my laptop on to stream music to my airport express. The other issue is
getting 5 ghz performance. This still isn’t available on portable devices such
as ipods and netbooks. If I would get an 5ghz adapter for my netbook it would be
expensive and bulky.

HD AUDIO

HD Audio is finally getting decent albums available on the web
(rather than a whole lot of unheard jazz & classical artists!!!). I have
finally bought my first album that is @ 24 bit 96k (Foreigner 4 from 1981).
Disappointingly my 3 year old Dell laptop does not support this format over hdmi
but my little Acer netbook with the AMD Fusion APU (that has a Radeon 6250) can
support HD Audio over HDMI. I need this so I can use the hdmi output to a
converter; spdif for my headphone amp or Roland M15a speakers.

***BTW Foreigner 4 sounds fantastic in HD Audio***

My Apple Airport or ipod/iphone does not support the format as
they are only 16 bit 44k and these are all the problems you can encounter when
upgrading to HD Audio.

The format certainly has more depth, spatiality & dynamics
but can sound a little thin at times. I think thinness is just part of the
digital format. With HD Audio I can no longer hear a telephone ringing in the
background which is what seems to happen a lot with the red-book 16 bit 44k
standard (although a decent DAC can help with this). HD audio also sounds live
and full of musicality as compared with plain old 16 bit 44k.

BLURAY ON A NETBOOK

I am quite impressed that my little netbook Acer Aspire 522 can
play blurays at 1080p. I wish the bluray standard could be standard in windows
7 as the Cyberlink power dvd app (which is the only app that works) is quite
expensive.